Any Experience with Florida Hill Nursery?

Tonton:

I believe Hoosierquilt got some blueberries from them via Ebay. I went on their website and ordered 10 blueberry plants. I never got a reply. That put me off and I'm going to wait until fall to get the plants from someone I trust and have bought from before.

I did. I ordered a couple of Sweet Crisp and an Emerald. The plants were small, but really healthy. They were very nice, and they shipped them very swiftly. They have a rather ingenious was of shipping - taping the little plants to a piece of cardboard, and very well wrapped and filled with peanuts, so they arrived all the way to S. California in perfect condition. I was pretty impressed with how they packaged the plants, actually.

Patty S.

Hello hoosierquilt, Thank you for your feedback we work real hard at getting quality plants to our customers at a great price in a timely fashion and appreciate honest feedback from experienced gardeners. We are just as picky who we sell to as people are to purchase from. We prefer not to send our plants off to certain death with inexperienced growers and will decline sales to people with limited gardening abilities and Its a philosophy that keeps costs low and buyers happy. Thank you for your business and come back anytime.

Thank you,
Shawn
owner operator of Floridahillnursery.com

I should be getting an order from them any day now, the just shipped notice came three days ago. They were the only place I could find these Sweetcrisp and I want to give them a try after your report, fruitnut. They were ordered through the website, it worked for me. I'll try to follow up here with comments on the plants.

Scott

Hello Fruitnut, I just realized my email server was maxed out to the extent that I was unable to receive emails. I have increased my email storage ability and can now receive emails. We have grown so fast over the passed 2 years that we have surpassed our original expectations and subsequently the framework. If there is anything you need just ask.

Shawn@Floridahillnursery.com

Thank you Shawn. I've sent you an Email.

Alright, since the owner of Florida Hill Nursery is posting in the forum I will order from FHN.
Once I receive my order I will post my experience with FHN!

FHN seems to be the only place with Sweetcrisp in stock right now. I ordered 10 of them and 5 Emerald today. Also ate the last of the Sweetcrisp with a few friends. They were as impressed with that variety as I am. So I already have buyers for Sweetcrisp plants as soon as I get them established in 5 gallons of good media.

Fruitnut, do you have any northern highbush plants? I have two northern highbush plants (bluegold and elliott) and I am in Zone 8. I wondering if these will have enough chill time for the fruits to set.

I am seriously debating whether or not to get rid of these two plants and replace them with southern highbush plants.

Hi Shawn,
what varieties of blueberries would you recommend for me?
So far I've got O'neal & Misty. Have space for 4-5 more bushes.
Conditions: hot dry summer with cool nights, low chill requirements in winter.

TIA,
Jeff

Hello Jeff, Misty is a recommended pollinator for Sharpblue so I would suggest at least one or two Sharpblue and the Windsor strain has produced wonderfully in my personal garden. University of Florida has a top notch blueberry breeding program that leads the nation. Here is a link.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs215

(U OF F);
Windsor is vigorous, with stout stems and a semi-spreading growth habit. Windsor leafs out strongly as it begins to flower, and this strong leafing enables it to support a large crop. Berries are normally ripe by April 28. Windsor berries are very large. Berries from the first half of the harvest average about 2.4 grams on young vigorous plants. The berries are about the same color as those of Sharpblue and Star. It has good firmness and flavor. Although Windsor grows and fruits well, it has lost favor among growers because of the deep picking scar which complicates packing and reduces post-harvest life.

When growere dont utilize a variety because it doesnt pack well that usually means its a top knotch fresh eating variety.

Hello Tonton101, We have just listed our site on Daves Garden please feel free to post feedback and we encourage everyone else to do the same. Shawn

Tonton:

I'd get rid of the northern highbush unless you reliably get 800 chilling hrs or more each winter. I started with six varieties each of northern and southern in 2004. I never got a crop off any of the six northern. The southern grew much better and leafed out much better in spring.

Jeff:

Thatever you get try a Sweetcrisp. It is very low in chilling needs and by far the best blueberry for eating IMO. All the others are mush compared to Sweetcrisp.

Shawn:

Have you tried Sweetcrisp? What do you think of it?

Thanks. Bought 4 plants.

Fruitnut,

Thanks for the info. You have confirmed my biggest fear...
Damn Lowes for selling BB plants that will not even fruit. Good thing is they have great return policy. I will dig up the Elliott and Bluegold tomorrow and send them back to Lowes.

And spekaing of northern plants, is Legacy consider low chill or high chill? According to Fallcreek Nursery's chart it is high chill but I saw other places have Legacy listed under low chill.

I am going to order two Sweetcrisp (and see if it lives up to fruitnut's hype ;D ), a sharpblue, and going to try out Windsor.

I already have emerald, jewel, misty, southmoon, sharpblue (not satisfy with the plant I bought from local nusery so I am going to buy one from Shawn), 2 sunshine blue, legacy. The new plants I am going to get from FHN will complete my BB collection... for now at least.

Looks interesting. When their Veinte Cohol banana is back in stock I will try that and another banana or two as a lark and several blueberries more seriously.

Tonton:

Nice BB collection. Please give a report when possible. I know I've been pushing people to try Sweetcrisp pretty hard. But it's that good IMO. I wish I owned the patent.

Legacy is one of those varieties that falls between northern and southern. I think it's worth a try in all but the lowest chill areas.

My blueberries from Florida Hill arrived today in excellent shape, well packaged and very healthy-looking leaves. They are a little smaller than I thought they would be but they are 5" tall which was how they were described. I hope I can nurse them up to size. One thing I learned from experience is to put a big stake right next to any small plant, to keep people from stepping on it.

Scott

Hello Gonebananas, I have a large planting of Veinte Cohol approaching sale size soon. They dont tend to stay around long so check back every week over the coarse of the next month so you dont miss out. Shawn

Hi Scott, thank you for your honest review, your feedback is appretiated. Shawn

Excellent. Will do.

Hello Fruitnut, Your order will ship on Thurs. at the latest.

I received my plants from Florida Hill Nursery yesterday. Plants were very well packed and they looked good. It took exactly a week from the date I placed my order to receive the plants.

You can see how the plants were packed as well as how big the BB plants were in the photos below.

I planted my new BB plants in 40% peat moss, 40% potting soil, and 10% cocoa shell, and 10% perlite mix. Before mixing the 10 gallon potting mixture together I also added 1 cup of organic Azela fertilizer, about 1/2 cup of organic organic soil acidifier, and 1/4 cup of organic dried blood meal into the mix.

My new plants are happily residing in 3 gallon pots with cocoa shell mulch. I am going to continue to follow the fertilizer regime Fruitnut posted in this forum (it works wonder with my other BB plants) and hopefully these new plants will grow nice and tall.

Cheers.

Hello Tonton, Thanks for the picts. It cool to see the plants on your end once received... I think you will find that they take off quite fast. Thanks for the feedback. Come back and see us anytime... Shawn and Angela. Florida Hill

My 15 plants arrived in good shape today despite the mailman leaving them setting in 100F heat all afternoon. Usually plants arrive here UPS but these were USPS. I spotted them about 5 pm and just finished planting in 5 gal pots. They look very good. These are as good as any I've gotten mailorder and the cheapest.

I was a little apprehensive ordering during this heat wave. But those concerns were unfounded. I'll be well ahead of ordering this fall. And well on my way to more Sweetcrisp. I will easily be able to sell all of that variety I can grow at $10 per lb.

Thank you Shawn!!

Hi Fruitnut, Im glad to hear the plants arrived safley. Thank You for the feedback and come back anytime... Happy Gardening from Shawn and Angela...

Anyone order from them lately ? Their website rejected my online credit card order , although I tried several times. It gave me some unknown reason code for rejection and I cannot get them to return my emails. Are they still in business ?

Go to Bananas.org for some interesting reviews and arguments about/with FHN. Go with Wellspring if you can--they always treated me good.
spaz

Bamatufa lucky you. I would not deal with FHN ever......

Wow ! Funny ! Maybe they merged with TYTY.

say, arent nursery owners not allowed to advertise?

A couple of weeks ago I got four banana plants from them and they were/are fine. They warned the plants are small but they were bigger than I expected and were nicely rooted.

I wanted a special variety and have to trust them on that for a year or so.

I ordered 4 blueberry plants from Florida Hill and shipping was the same single rate for up to 4 plants--and by far the most reasonable shipping charge I have seen anywhere! The plants were also most reasonably priced. They arrived two days after shipping USPS Priority Shipping and were packed exceptionally well (see above photos from Tonton101.) The plants while small, are extremely healthy and show no stress from being shipped. I am delighted with the products and service from Florida Hill and will certainly order again.

MarionM112 Just registered TODAY and posts this.....seems like Florida Hill is trying to recruit new customers to rip off......sad sad sad.

Nice catch Bamboo! Wow, a new low for a nursery....

Please let this not be the banana forum all over again. I really like FHN and their products,but this is getting ridiculous.

I don't like them.It is true though,FHN is ridiculous,when they can't get numerous people's orders correct.
And any FHN staff that are snooping around here,the Blueberry plants I received were not Sweetcrisp and I had to wait over a year to find that out. Brady

Is this company still in business? Their website is just a blank white page.

I had recently read the bananasdotorg thread, and then this thread just now. Some pretty surprising behavior.

Anyway, scottsmith and fruitnut, did the plants you received from FHN turn out to be the correct varieties?

Nothing I got from FHN was correct. Messed up my operation as I now have about 20 unknown potted blueberries.

I have the same problem, blank page. What's up?

They've probably gotten what they deserve and gone broke.

I've ordered from them twice.

Small plants, but very cheap, so I'm okay with that. Always seem to get what I pay for. Shipping is quick and cheap.

I ordered a banana plant from them back in May. It was fast and cheap. It arrived small and green with yellowing but it started dying as soon as I planted it. I emailed them, I did receive an email but they were blaming me for the dying plant. No refund nor support. Never again buying from them.

I knew that I was ordering from a tissue-culture propagator and I know what a "liner" plant is in the trade (small, but big enough to be reasonably "tough" for planting into nursery lines or pots, or--but only with special care--into permanent sites).

Part of peoples' disappointment with the smallness of plants may result from misunderstanding. I thought the ones I received were bigger and better developed than the minimum I would have reasonably accepted. And I know I got the right grapes at least, by their distinctive leaf shape ("Southern Home"). I will buy more.

The page is working again. I don't think they deserve to go broke, really, but i do think some business practices need to change. I got decent sized plants and they are growing nicely now, so i have no real reason to complain exept for questionable business ethics.

I stopped buying from them when my sweetcrisp lived just long enough to infect the rest of my blueberries two years ago. I lost a number of varieties that I am still working to replace.

What was the pathogen?

Frustrating, no customer service, dead plants, might as well give your money away. Was ripped off. Ordered over $70 of plant material, received 4" plants with over half of them dead. Returned within 30 days the dead plants with original invoice and clearly marked plants. After over two months, no refund and after sending numerous emails (they have no phone number listed) they want the postal receipt. What a scam, so if you want to give away your money, go ahead. That has been my experience, what a fool I was to deal with this frustrating company. Wish I had read the reviews before doing business with Florida Hill Scammers.

I bought 4 figs from them last year that were tissue culture plants. When they arrived they all had fig leaf rust and dropped all of their leaves. They did bounce back and are growing fine now. They have not produced any figs yet so I can't say for sure that the varieties they sent are accurate. Based on leaf style though I think they are.

After receiving the rusted plants I contacted them and they credited me for one of the plants and told me if the plants don't survive to contact them for replacements.

I purchased from them and have been regretting it ever since. Worst customer service I have ever seen. Buyer beware! I tried emailing them multiple times as they don't use a phone. When they finally responded they were rude and belittled me asking if I was on medication because i left negative comnents on their fb page saying my plant was dying and no one would contact me about it. Much more bullying ensued in emails that I have documented. They even stole, yes stole, my intellectual property that I emailed them to prove my plant was dying. They posted it on their fb page trying to demean me and publicly bully me. I have also taken photos of that to document it. They dwlete all of their negative reviews too so that no one knows how horrible of a business they are. It makes ne sick. So if anyone is interested in that material, I will gladly provide it to you. Please don't make my mistake and buy anything from them. It's not worth it.

The latest on Florida Hill Nursery is I sent a copy of my postal receipt with the date proving I returned my plants within 30 day. Am now receiving threats that Florida Hill Nursery is going to sue me for liable because I posted negative comments about my very real and honest experience dealing with them. As another woman posted, Florida Hill resorts to bullying instead of taking responsibility for poor business practices. With all documentation have not been refunded for dead and diseased plants. Buyer beware dead, diseased plants and bullying especially if you are a woman.

Anyone know how I can report this Company for dishonest and threatening business practices?

They will not be able to win the case if they do chose to sue you for liable as long as what you posted and is true. If they see it is their responsibility to prove that what you wrote is untrue. Document their interactions with you and keep your own evidence of their bullying if you need help in that matter I can help because I have my own posts and bullying from them. You can and should continue to post negative comments on their facebook twitter instagram pages as long as it is true. I would do so as well but they have blocked and deleted my comments. So I now write statuses with them tagged in it hoping to warn people of them.

If they sue* it is their responsibility to prove what you said is false

Also if you paid with a credit card simply call them and dispute the claim. They will refund you and fight with florida hill nursery to get the money back. That way you don't need to continue to be bullied or harassed. Hope this helps.

i bought dragonfruit american beauty got first fruit last year excited to see what they do this year now that they are more established gonna order more now

Just got in an Abyssinian Red Banana (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii') from them. Packed safely in nice shape. Can see it growing already. Their shipping costs are less than from my other sources and big shipping discounts for multiple plant orders.

I have been emailing Floridahill nursery for about two weeks about the dead plant I received. I have not gotten a response. I have sent at least three emails and I have filled out their contact form twice. Nothing, zero, zip. I guess I am one those people that paid $25 dollars for one little start and a cooked one. Nice. So much for the good reviews.